Bessa R as a tough travel camera?

[tedwhite]

A bit OT also, but where can I get a wrist strap for my Bessas? Gandy doesn't seem to list one.

Ted

 

[sockeyed]

I have a couple of friends with a Swiss army surplus Unimog, too. It's bright orange. They used to live in Squamish, now they live in Rossland in the Kootneys. We used the beast to get us up some very deactivated logging roads. Stunning vehicles!

Talking about old motor bikes, here's a pic of an Indian Rajdoot. I heard it was a copy of an old Polish bike, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

 

[tedwhite]

It looks like a copy of a Zundap, which is either German, Austrian, or Polish, I forget which. I wonder if anyone is selling Indian motorcycles here in the states. They should be quite cheap in terms of US dollars.

As for the unimog, Fred Brown, a 2CV Citroen collector here in town (as in eighteen) just picked up a Swiss Army unimog. Boy, talk about ground clearance!

Ted

 

[Tom Diaz]

When I travelled in Vietnam, I actually found my Canon FD 85/1.8 very useful. I got some great, natural people shots with it, even though I'm generally not a fan of teles. I carried it, a 24mm and a 35mm. A great travel kit, I thought. Now I'd probably go with my Bessa, 25/4, 35/2.5, and 75/2.5.

It's funny about what you say concerning people in India not liking having their picture taken, Tom. My experience was just the opposite - I found people often asked to have their picture taken, which led to me burning through quite a bit of film, sometimes. Perhaps it's different in different parts of the country (I was mostly in the west).

I guess we photographed different people in India. 😛 Nobody was rude to me; the people were wonderful, as I had hoped. I simply got the inference in many places that they were fatigued by foreign tourists taking pictures of them. The only ones who asked me to take their pictures were trying to make a living that way. If I was close enough to someone so I was taking their portrait, as it were, rather than their just being in the crowd, I asked permission and then did as they said.

 

[Roman]

I'm far from being an expert on those, but many small motorcycles from the 1940s and '50s look like that - Zündapp is German, Puch from Austria also had some similar models, as did CZ and Jawa from (then) Czechoslovakia, don't know about Polish brands.

Roman

 

[tedwhite]

Thanks, Floyd, for the wrist strap tip. So I looked at it.

Love the Yiddish English: "Never say you weren't for the shot ready again."

Ted

 

[RML]

I guess we photographed different people in India. 😛 Nobody was rude to me; the people were wonderful, as I had hoped. I simply got the inference in many places that they were fatigued by foreign tourists taking pictures of them. The only ones who asked me to take their pictures were trying to make a living that way. If I was close enough to someone so I was taking their portrait, as it were, rather than their just being in the crowd, I asked permission and then did as they said.

I think the clue might lie in the word "tourists".
I've been to India three times, to Hyderabad in AP. 5th largest city of India but literally only a handful of Western foreigners. I couldn't walk around the area where I lived without having streams of children behind me, and when I went off the main road into the alleyways I even got invited into people's houses to take photos (group photos, of course, as everyone wants to be in it). Everyone was all smiles and laughs and almost desperate to have their picture taken. I think once your out of the tourist hot spots you'll be burning film like there's no tomorrow, especially if you stay a few days in one place. Simply walk one way and take photos, then return the way you came taking photos. This second chance is too good to miss for the local people... you'll be asked to take photos of everyone. 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

I'll second comments about getting away from the tourist routes -- I've been going to India for over 20 years, including a memorable 4000km tour on a Royal Enfield Bullet 350 (see www.mctie.com, where the 'Bikes and Gear area has a section on the Bullet) -- but even at the seriously touristy places such as Agra I've not encountered many people who make a loving by having their pictures taken, apart from obvious ones like snake charmers.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Tom Diaz]

I think the clue might lie in the word "tourists"....
I think once your out of the tourist hot spots you'll be burning film like there's no tomorrow, especially if you stay a few days in one place. Simply walk one way and take photos, then return the way you came taking photos. This second chance is too good to miss for the local people... you'll be asked to take photos of everyone. 🙂

Yes, I'm sure you're right about that.

I hope I do not give the impression that I was disappointed with the experience of traveling in India; on the contrary. It was right up there with my best experiences, photographically and otherwise.

My favorite thing was walking through the market in whatever city. The people are beautiful, and everyone is busy. In this venue, my favorite, people were almost never more than a couple of feet away from me. When I go back, besides trying RML's idea, I will go right back to such places, with more wide-angle lenses.

I made heavy use of an Olympus OM-4, occasionally using the spot metering, usually just in "full auto." In most cases the lighting was very even. I needed the spot only in a couple of cases where sunbeams penetrated down into the bazaar. These days I would use the R2A, but would want a backup all-mechanical camera somewhere in the kit. (I had one with the OM-4, too.)